Commercial and sport fishing have become a major industry. The goal of the fisherman is to catch the most and the biggest fish that he possibly can catch. In helping a fisherman to accomplish this goal, the design of artificial lures plays a very important role. Artificial lures are typically configured to reproduce the likeness and movement of bait fish, worms, lizards, and other swimming creatures upon which game fish, large and small, feed. At the same time, the lure must allow the fish to be hooked or caught.
Several attempts have been made to design an artificial lure which simulates the life-like action of fresh water and salt water fish. Examples of these attempts include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,214,396, 4,317,305, 4,069,610, 3,958,358, 2,854,779, 2,785,497, and 994,927.
In the early development period, the object was to duplicate the "look" of the bait fish. As design became more sophisticated, the object became appropriating the "feel" and "movement" of the bait fish. Movement of a lure is a critical feature. Known prior art lures may look attractive, but they do not possess the features which create realistic movement. Similarly, lures which display life-like movement may not look real, Finally, designers are faced with the problems of designing lures which look and act like a real bait fish, yet are easily manufactured in quantity.
As an example, one such lure having a single wavy or rippled fin on one side of the body or tail of a lure has been commercially successful from the manufacturing standpoint. However, heretofore, no one has suggested a lure having two wavy, rippled, or undulating fins on the body or tail of the lure. A single fin lure is easily manufactured using injection molding. The mold is configured so that the single fin is molded in substantially flat form when viewed in the horizontal plane.
In most fabrication processes which have preceded the present invention, the mold was normally comprised of two parts to facilitate separation thereof when extracting the lure. The molding process previously used employed bilateral mold plates which were tooled to receive the lure material. The plates were tooled so that concave depressions could receive the lure material. This configuration was necessary because it was difficult to match plates with both concave and convex aspects. This normally results in a seam at the joining of the two portions of the mold. In the past, the single fin was aligned along the axis of the seam. If the plates were not matched appropriately, the result would be flash along the edges of the lure. Also, in the past, the manufacturer of the lure started with two plates having planar surfaces which had been prepared to abut one another.